Grave vault



L. SMITH July 17, 1934.

GRAVE VAULT Filed Feb. 1933 Patented July 17, 1934 GRAVE VAULT Lee Smith, Evansville, Ind.

Application February 4,

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a grave vault and has for an object to provide an improved grave vault which is formed by the casket and casket container within the grave.

A further object of this invention is to provide a method of forming the grave vault about the casket and casket container in position in the grave.

A further object of this invention is to provide a grave vault which will protect the casket and contents of the casket from the crushing weight of the earth placed thereabove and which will allow the moisture in the casket and the contents to escape therethrough.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, as will hereinafter become apparent, this invention comprises the constructions, combinations and arrangements of parts, hereinafter set forth, disclosed and shown on the accompanying drawing. In this drawing,

Figure 1 is a transverse section through a grave vault illustrating my invention, the casket container being partly broken away to show the casket therein.

Figure 2 is a vertical section through the same clearly showing the cement supports for the casket container, the casket being shown in elevation.

There is shown at a casket placed within the casket container 11. The grave 12 instead of being dug just to fit the casket container 11 is constructed to extend three or four inches on each side beyond the length and the width of the casket container 11. The grave floor 13 is dug away a distance from each end and each side of the grave,

possibiy six to eight inches as at 14 and 15.

The floor 13 is sufficient to sustain the casket container 11 which is placed thereon equally spaced from the sides of the grave 12. After the casket 10 is placed within the container 11, the

cover 16 of the casket container 11 is put in position thereon. Then the mixture of concrete cement or other suitable material that forms a hard and rocklike mass is poured in along the sides of the container 11 between the sides of this container 11 and the sides of the grave 12. The concrete or cement flows under the edges of the casket container 11 as far as the edges 14 and 15 of the grave vault 13, forming footings 17 and 18 which assist in supporting the casket container 11 as well as in supporting the side walls 19 and end walls 20 formed by the concrete between the casket container 11 and the sides of the grave 12. Sufficient concrete is poured until a roof 21 is formed across the casket container 16 of substantially the same thickness as the sides 19 and the ends 20, thus completing the grave vault.

The dirt or soil 22 is then filled into the grave 12 closing the grave.

1933, Serial No. 655,268

As will be observed, the grave vault 23 formed according to this method completely encloses the top and sides of the casket and casket container and extends a short distance under each side and each end of the casket and casket container. The bottom of the grave vault 23, however, is left open to the grave floor 13. As a result of this opening to the grave floor 13 and thus to the earth, moisture within the casket and the contents thereof will be allowed to penetrate into the earth as the casket and container decay without, however, allowing the contents of the casket to be crushed in by the weight of the soil 22 thereover. The grave vault 23 thus provides a permanent support for the casket and the contents thereof, permanently protecting the same against the encroachment of the elements.

The novel features and the operation of this device will be apparent from the foregoing description. While the device has been shown and the structure described in detail, it is obvious that this is not to be considered limited to the exact form disclosed, and that changes may be made therein within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention, what is claimed is:

1. The method of protecting a casket within a grave comprising digging a grave longer and wider than the dimensions of the casket container to be placed therein, digging channels in the grave floor extending inwardly from the sides and ends of the grave a sufficient distance to come under the casket container, placing the casket and casket container within the grave supported on the remaining grave fioor, pouring cement or other material about the sides of the casket container and into the channels formed therebelow, pouring a layer of cement over the casket container top and placing soil on top thereof to close the grave.

2. A grave vault comprising a casket container, end walls and side walls, enclosing means, a footing below each enclosing means and extending inwardly towards the opposite enclosing means and stopping short of the opposite footing, and a casket container top covering means, said enclosing means, footing and top cover means being integrally formed from poured cement.

3. A casket protecting grave vault comprising an enclosing container formed about the casket in the grave, said container completely enclosing the top and sides of said casket and partly enclosing the bottom of said casket leaving an opening, said container being formed of concrete poured into position about the casket in the grave.

LEE SMITH. 

